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By Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure

LAGOS, June 25 (Reuters) - Online sports betting wagering is growing in soccer-mad Nigeria mainly thanks to payment systems developed by homegrown innovation companies that are beginning to make online businesses more practical.

For many years, mobile payments failed to take off in Nigeria as they have in countries such as Kenya, where Safaricom's M-Pesa money transfers have actually promoted a culture of cashless payments.
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Fear of electronic scams and sluggish internet speeds have held Nigerian online customers back however sports betting firms says the brand-new, quick digital payment systems underpinning their websites are altering attitudes towards online deals.

"We have seen substantial growth in the number of payment solutions that are offered. All that is certainly altering the video gaming area," stated Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, gaming regulator in Nigeria's commercial capital.
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"The operators will choose whoever is faster, whoever can connect to their platform with less problems and problems," he stated, adding that taxes from sports betting wagering in Lagos State rose 30 percent to 40 percent in 2017 from 2016.

That development has been matched by a rise in web payments, according to information from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), which is owned by the reserve bank and certified banks.
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In 2016, there were 14 million web payments worth a total 132 billion naira ($420 million). Transactions jumped to 29 million worth 185 billion in 2017 and in the very first quarter of 2018 there were almost 10 million worth 61 billion.

With a young population of nearly 190 million, rising mobile phone use and falling data expenses, Nigeria has long been seen as a terrific chance for online businesses - once customers feel comfortable with electronic payments.

Online gaming companies say that is taking place, though reaching the tens of countless Nigerians without access to banking services stays an obstacle for pure online sellers.

British online sports betting company Betway opened its first African organization in Kenya in 2015, followed by Uganda, Ghana and South Africa. It introduced in Nigeria in January.

"There is a steady shift to online now, that is where the market is going," Betway's Nigeria manager Lere Awokoya said.

"The development in the number of fintechs, and the government as an enabler, has actually assisted business to flourish. These technological shifts motivated Betway to start running in Nigeria," he stated.
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FINTECH COMPETITION

sports betting firms cashing in on the soccer frenzy worked up by Nigeria's participation on the planet Cup say they are discovering the payment systems developed by local start-ups such as Paystack are proving popular online.

Paystack and another regional start-up Flutterwave, both established in 2016, are providing competitors for Nigeria's Interswitch which was set up in 2002 and was the main platform used by companies operating in Nigeria.

"We included Paystack as one of our payment options with no excitement, without revealing to our consumers, and within a month it soared to the top most used payment choice on the website," said Akin Alabi, founder of NairabBET.
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He said NairaBET, the country's second most significant wagering firm, now had 2 million routine consumers on its site, up from 500,000 in 2013, and Paystack stayed the most popular payment choice since it was included late 2017.

Paystack was set up by 2 Nigerian computer science graduates, Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, who got early phase financing in Silicon Valley's Y-Combinator program.

In December 2016, it raised $1.3 million from investors including China's Tencent and Comcast Ventures in the United States.

Paystack, based in the mad Ikeja district of Lagos, stated the number of monthly deals it processed rose from about 8,000 in early 2016 to more than 900,000 since June 2018.

"In early 2016 we were processing about $3,000 a month. Today we process well over $11 million each and every single month," said Emmanuel Quartey, Paystack's head of development.

He stated a community of designers had actually emerged around Paystack, producing software to incorporate the platform into sites. "We have actually seen a development because community and they have carried us along," said Quartey.

Paystack stated it enables payments for a variety of wagering companies but likewise a vast array of companies, from utility services to transfer business to insurance provider Axa Mansard.

Flutterwave, co-founded by Nigerian entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, is likewise backed by the Y-Combinator program along with endeavor capitalists Greycroft Partners and Green Visor Capital and the Omidyar Network. It raised $10 million last year.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Shifts in Nigeria's payment culture have actually accompanied the arrival of foreign financiers wishing to use sports betting.
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Industry specialists state the sector creates about $1 billion a year and is likely to grow faster than in South Africa and Kenya where business is more established.

Russia's 1XBet and Slovakia's DOXXbet have actually both set up in Nigeria in the last 2 years while Italy's Goldbet led the pattern, taking a 50 percent stake in market leader Bet9ja when the Nigerian firm launched in 2015.

NairaBET's Alabi said its sales were divided between stores and online but the ease of electronic payments, expense of running shops and ability for to avoid the stigma of gaming in public suggested online transactions would grow.

But despite advances in digital payments, Kunle Soname - chairman and co-founder of Bet9ja - said it was important to have a store network, not least because numerous consumers still stay hesitant to invest online.

He stated the company, with about 60 percent of Nigeria's sports betting market, had a substantial network. Nigerian sports betting shops frequently function as social centers where customers can see soccer totally free of charge while putting bets.

At a BetKing hall deep inside the dynamic Oshodi market in Lagos, lots of soccer fans collected to enjoy Nigeria's last warm up game before the World Cup.

Richard Onuka, a factory employee who makes 25,000 naira a month, was focused on a television screen inside. He stated he started gambling 3 months ago and bets as much as 1,000 naira a day.

"Since I have actually been playing I have not won anything however I believe that a person day I will win," said Onuka. ($1 = 314.5000 naira) (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Didi Akinyelure in Lagos